Until the Last Dying Moments
by MoonlightUmbreon
Summary: Angst Day! The Guys in White are merciless beings... cruel throughout every inch of their soul. It was never about collecting the data. It was always about the cruelty; the satisfaction they'd get when they inflicted harm... they'd do anything...


**-Author's Note-**  
It's October 1st – and that means... DP Angst Day! Today is the day were many of us author-people post an angsty Danny Phantom story! Anyone who still wants to participate can whip up a story today and post it. Make sure that it's still October 1st, though. Visit http : / dp-angst . deviantart . com (take out the spaces) for more information!

Thank-you to Shining-Zephyr and ElusiveVisionary for the support with this! You guys both totally _**rock!**_

This is the longest oneshot I've ever written, I swear. Never have I written a oneshot or a chapter this long... I'm sort-of proud of myself. Also, you might want to keep an eye on the dates – if you do, you might notice something. ;)

Note: This story doesn't _start _with angst. Just be patient, and trust me - it comes. Also remember, it's rated T for a reason, guys!

* * *

**-Until the Last Dying Moments-  
-MoonlightUmbreon-  
**

* * *

_-Day 1-  
-Monday, the 27__th__ of July, 2008-_

A tall black man stood proudly, watching over his designated area in a crisp white suit. He was quite built in his upper torso, and wore a pair of black shades over his eyes and a black tie.

Said man began to pace towards the centre of a large shopping complex, smirking as he pushed a tiny button on the side of his sunvisers.

_Heat detectors... check._

He strided towards a shop selling hot chips and in an effort to seem discrete, ordered a small bucket. As he waited, he pushed another very small button on the back of his tie.

_Invisible ectoplasm guard device... check._

Receiving and paying for the chips, the man sat down on a nearby seat and waited, taking one from the bucket every so often. As he went, he noticed that his shoelace was done up properly. And so, he leaned down and took it apart, then did it up again. As he finished re-tying his shoelace, he quickly put his finger under the tongue of his shoe, pressing yet another minuscule button.

_Experimental time freezer... check._

That was everything - he was absolutely sure. After all, members of the Guys in White didn't make mistakes or leave things out. He bided his time, sitting patiently in wait in his seat, eating the chips he had bought. The heat detectors hidden in his pair of shades allowed him to check for ghosts by detecting the body heat of the people around him, and his ectoplasm guard device acted as a shield, so that no specter alive or dead could touch him. And the _untested_ experimental time freezer... was better left unsaid.

Tipped off by an anonymous sender, he was confident that in exactly sixty more seconds, the elusive Danny Phantom would appear – and, to put the icing on the cake, they would learn something about his existence that they'd never thought possible. He rubbed his hands together, allowing a small grin to grace his lips.

_Thirty seconds..._

As the man looked down at his constantly ticking watch, (timed to the exact second) something caught his eye on his shades. A boy with black hair carrying a backpack had a startlingly low body temperature. Judging by the colour of the blue showing up on his specs, twenty-four degrees Celsius.

From his expert knowledge, this boy should be suffering from severe hypothermia – no, he should be dead, at _best; _not walking around, not shivering at all, minding his own business. It was this that brought him to a conclusion.

This boy _was _dead. However... there was still a flaw with that explanation; anyone who was dead – a ghost – would have a body temperature of exactly zero degrees Celsius. So, it didn't seem to match up. Intrigued, the man followed the freezing boy, trying not to draw attention to himself. He put his hand up and pressed a button on the side of his sunglasses, causing the temperature monitor to stop running, and starting up the natural ectoplasm air density monitor.

0.002 percent.

He knew he had something now – a normal ectoplasm density would be 0.0001 percent. He definitely had something going with this...

The boy he was following seemed to have a very alert and ready mind, from his observations. Occasionally he would slow down walking or look around very carefully, as though he was thinking that he could have been attacked at any second. Yes... there was _definitely _something going on here.

The boy suddenly gasped, and the man in the crisp white suit noticed a wisp of blueish mist escape his subject's mouth.

"2:52 PM: Suspicious subject found in the vicinity of the Amity Park Shopping Mall. Does not look like an ectoplasmic being, but is in hypothermia and yet it doesn't seem to be affecting it. The ectoplasm air density is relatively high, so the subject may be an ectoplasmic entity in disguise."

The digital watch on the man's wrist beeped, indicating that his message had been recorded successfully. He grinned to himself, pleased with the results of the anonymous tipster. In fact, it would just be the icing on the cake if this boy could be proved to be Danny Phantom. Although wearing relatively baggy clothing, he would be about the same build. Not only that, but his hair and facial features were remarkably similar, if you took the colour out. And he did have some rather inhuman characteristics about him, too.

Ever since the mist had escaped the boy's mouth, he'd been even more alert than usual. He'd stopped dead in the middle of the complex, looking around frantically for something. Suddenly, he dived to the side and ran straight into the men's bathroom. Only a few seconds later came the loud shattering of glass, and the tinkling of it hitting the floor. Many people covered their heads and yelled or screamed in shock, but the man just stood their, looking up at what used to be the large glass roof of the mall.

Two green ecto-energy blasts flew down and smashed into the ground, although the entity causing these beams couldn't be determined. The man put his heat sensors back on and immediately determined that the culprit was floating in the air, just below the glass roof that it had apparently smashed. Unfortunately, he couldn't really determine the ghost's identity.

And then came Phantom. He flew out of the wall to the left, defying the laws of physics and looking around with the same twitchy, paranoid motions of the boy with the freezing body temperature.

"Ecto-signature request: Is this the same boy as before?" the man pointed his watch at Phantom. It gave a reassuring "bing!". That was all he needed – it had proved that the boy from earlier was merely Phantom in disguise. However... his plan of attack was not to immediately lash out at him... he'd have to pick a weak spot...

The man left the complex, ignoring the ghost fight commencing up ahead. Things like that could be left for the ghosts to figure out, he decided.

* * *

_-Day 2-  
-Tuesday the 28__th__ of July, 2008-_

"Why the _hell _can we not find him?!"

"Did you look everywhere?"

"Of course I looked everywhere! What do you take me for, an idiot?"

"No, of course not sir. But why is this boy not listed in the government's directory?"

The tall black man from the previous day smacked his fist on the table, ready to quite willingly throw the computer out of the window. How could the boy _not _be listed in the governments top-secret school information directory? It just wasn't possible – after all, they hacked into the schools' systems themselves to get a hold of it.

_'Subject found. Please stand by while the information is loaded.'_

"Thank God!" he exclaimed, removing his fist from where it had made a small crater in the wooden table. "We have something!"

_'Error detected. The information on the network "GOVERNMENT" is corrupted. Please see a verified computer technician to recover the network.'_

"Oh, for the love of... where's the technicians?"

"They're on a two-month holiday in Fiji. They said the systems should be fine if we don't abuse them."

"Well, do they _look _fine?!" the black man asked rhetorically, smashing his fist into the table to make yet another large crater. "We've got to find out about this boy _somehow!_"

His white partner looked nervous – there were a few beads of sweat beginning to form on his face, where they slowly slid downwards as he bit on his lip. He had no idea what to say, as his partner and superior picked up a mug of coffee as he waited and drained it. "_Well?_"

"I don't know. We're going to have to call out some technicians from a source other than the government."

The tall black man, still in his crisp white suit grinded his teeth together and growled in a low, menacing voice as he pulled his hand together to make a fist, crunching his knuckles as he went.

* * *

_-Day 7-  
-Sunday the 3__rd__ of August, 2008-_

"_Okay... well, look – I'm sorry, but we're full, and there's a three week waiting period. I don't think you're going to find anyone faster, either – people's computers are always going haywire. Why should we place you ahead of everyone else in the queue?"_

"Because I'm with the government, and have access to your list of payed taxes."

"_Doesn't sound like you have much access, considering that your computers are corrupted. I'm sorry, but it's three weeks or nothing – and all the other companies around Amity Park are bogged down with errors too, due to the high levels of magnetic impulses from the ghost activity."_

"... fine. Make it in three weeks. But if you are so much as _one minute _late, I will personally make sure that there is a screwdriver standing upright in your throat."

"_Thank-you sir, you've been booked for the twenty-seventh of August at four pm. I can assure you that we shall not__ be late and that we will take legal action in the event of anything involving a screwdriver. Have a nice day."_

Boiling mad, shaking and a visible pulsing vain on his forehead, the tall black man, who had absolutely had it, slammed the phone onto the receiver with a deafening smash. _Three weeks?! _How could they wait _three weeks?!_ He turned to his comrade, ready to tell him the bad news. However, his comrade, who had already seen that he was fuming and literally ready to snap something in half, had sensibly, ran for it.

* * *

_-Day 31-  
-Wednesday the 27__th__ of August, 2008-  
_

"Well, the systems should work now." the technician said, checking the computer over for anymore corrupted data. "But I'm sure that this was another problem due to the magnetic fields of ghosts. Evidently you've had one go through the main hard drive, and that's what's caused your error."

"Good. Now leave."

"Hold on, you haven't payed me yet."

"We're with the government, and can look up your tax records now that you've kindly recovered them for us." the two men in suits said, almost simultaneously. The technician looked slightly taken aback, biting his lip and backing away.

"Leaving, leaving! I was only joking, you know."

"That's better."

As the technician left, the two men searched the boy who looked like Danny Phantom again with the photo that had been taken on the day. It came up with results instantly, and a cheery female voice told them exactly the information they needed to know.

_'Subject found. Name: Daniel (Danny) Fenton. Date of Birth: March 24, 1993. Currant Age: 15. School: Casper High School, (CHS) Amity Park. Place of Residence: 95 Sumner St, Volencia, Amity Park in Illinois. Parents: Madeline (Maddie) Fenton (mother) and Jack Fenton. (father) Siblings: 1. Jasmine (Jazz) Fenton. Closest friends by observation: 2. Samantha (Sam) Manson and Tucker Foley._

"Hello, hello." the tall white man said, a grin beginning to broaden across his lips. "So he _does _have an identity."

His tall, African-American partner nodded in agreement, his own grin spreading and becoming a devious smile. "Danny Fenton, is it? Well, it looks like you're in for a bit of a ride, starting from tomorrow – ghost kid."

* * *

_-Day 32-_  
_-Thursday the 28__th__ of August, 2008-_

"DANNY! GET THAT ECTO-PURIFIER BEFORE THE PORTAL EXPLODES!" Jack Fenton's voice boomed from the ground floor. Danny was beginning to panic up in the Observation Centre – he couldn't find the tube of new ecto-purifier, and the portal was just three minutes away from overdrawing the old tube and then sucking in the air, as well as foreign material and blowing the place apart.

_Crap, crap, crap! w_ere the only thoughts traveling through his mind as he struggled to find what he needed. Sweat ran down his face in fear – he could easily turn intangible if the portal decided to erupt, but he knew that his family and the rest of the people on the block couldn't. He continued to search relentlessly, almost crying in frustration – why wouldn't his family come up and _help _him? Surely they weren't that confident that he'd find it when he didn't even know where it was stored...

--

As Jack waited eagerly for his son to come down with a new tube of ecto-purifier to put into the filtrator, there was a knock on the door. He opened it as though nothing were happening and grinned with what could only be pure glee as he saw that it was the Guys in White standing there.

"We are the Guys in White. We've come to talk to you abou-"

_'Two minutes from core meltdown in ecto-filtrator. Please replace ecto-purifier immediately to prevent a nuclear explosion.'_

Jack ran his hand through his thinning hair and laughed light-heartedly. "Don't worry, Danny's fixing that."

The emergency lights and sirens began to blare throughout the house as the portal became less and less stable. Danny came bolting down the stairs with a new tube and dashed off into the basement, not even acknowledging the Guys in White's presence – there were much more dangerous things than them at hand at the moment.

As he got down to the bottom, the old ecto-filtrator was a _mess_, and the portal as well as the rest of the basement certainly didn't look as though it was in great condition, either. Danny ignored the green, glowing spills, jumped over and phased through a number of sharp, dangerous or toxic objects in his way and wrenched the old purifier out of it's place in the filtrator, shoving the new one in with just a little bit of excessive force.

_'Ecto filtrator restored.'_

Both Jack and Danny sighed with relief in their separate positions in the house, knowing that all would be safe for the next six months. The Guys in White, on the other hand, looked much less than unimpressed.

"Again, we are the Guys in White. We've come to talk to you about your son, Danny, and if you don't let us in, we're going to break down your door and strap you to a seat so you'll listen. Got it?"

"Yeah, sure! Come right in! What do you want to know about Danny? I'll tell you anything you need to know to hunt down that horrible Danny Phantom."

"That's good, Mr. Fenton. Very good. We also have some information that you just _might _be interested in..."

--

Danny slowly made his way out of the basement, careful not to touch anything. Most of these inventions were hazardous even to normal, full-blooded humans, so he didn't fancy on finding out what they did to a half-ghost. However, he stopped before he got to the stairs that led upwards onto the ground floor – he could hear something... he could hear voices; and they sure-as-heck weren't his family's, except for... his dad...

"... Danny can't be! That's not possible... I mean, I respect your opinions as Guys in White, but... it doesn't seem right..."

Danny stopped listening almost instantly and became such a pale shade of white that any innocent bystanders may have thought he was dying. He quickly but quietly bolted up the stairs, jumping a few steps at a time. He didn't want to use any of his ghost powers at the moment because doing so could set off the Guys in White's detectors and it goes without saying, that that would make an already seemingly bad situation worse.

Danny hid behind a wall, thankful that he didn't need to breathe as often as anyone else did. He held in his breath, being careful not to make a sound as he listened.

"... ghost kid. We need to know how this could have happened – could it possibly have been the ecto-pollution in this house? There is a fair amount of it."

"Well – that couldn't be, because that would put me in the same position as him. There's no way that Danny could be Phantom at the same time without him being... killed."

"Well, was there any incidents that _could _have killed him? Chemical spills, accidents... this does seem like a very dangerous house."

Danny was, if possible, becoming paler. He'd have to trust his knowledge of his dad being forgetful right now, because if...

"I would never kill my own son! There's been no accidents that he's had that could have killed him. Except for th- ..."

"Please Mr. Fenton, do go on. What was the exception?"

_No Dad, don't say it! Please don't say it! I'm mentally begging you! _Danny thought desperately, tiny beads of sweat beginning to again drip down his pale face.

"... I'll be right back ..."

Danny was surprised at how fast his dad could move sometimes, and this was one of those times. Almost the very instant he'd said 'I'll be right back', he'd come hurtling around the corner and crashed straight into Danny, bowling him over.

"Danny!"

"D-Dad! You ran straight into me! I was, um, just coming in to tell you that the filtrator's fine!"

"Danny, I believe we need to have... a talk."

Danny winced as he desperately tried to come up with lies and inconspicuous actions. "What, like one of those father-son talks that are horribly disturbing and will scar my innocence for life? E-er, no thanks. I have... homework to do?"

"I'm serious."

"..."

"Did anything strange happen to you after that accident with the Ghost Portal?"

"Um, no? Why would you think that? We all know that after a couple of days bed rest I was fine."

Danny wasn't technically lying – after a few days spent lying in bed staring at the ceiling, he was back at school again; only with more accidents involving dropping equipment, and in the case of science, sulfuric acid as well. But he knew that his previous very long streak of luck involving his identity was finally beginning to wear thin... but... how did the Guys in White find out? He'd been so _careful_...

"But..." Jack seemed to be biting down on his lower lip, not sure how to word what he was going to say next. However it was said, Danny knew what was coming quite well, and looked almost on the verge of having a nervous breakdown. The tension was absolutely _killing _him. "I mean... when you were in the portal..." Jack's voice had become shaky, Danny could tell that he wanted to say it and yet was afraid to do so at the same time. "There was... a lot of electricity that poured through you... please... tell me you're not..."

"Dad!" Danny said, cutting him off before he could get any further. "I'm perfectly alive! Do I _look _like a ghost to you?!"

"You look... like Danny... ... ... Phantom."

"..."

Danny couldn't say anything. The silence was incredibly awkward, and even if his dad would go back on his accusation, he'd always wonder about the strange coincidences between ghost and boy. As father and son stood there, they're eyes locked and full of emotion, the two agents from the Guys in White whipped around the corner, holding up what appeared to be a recording device.

"Please note that the conversation the both of you have just had has been recorded for government use. Thank-you for your time."

And, as quickly as they had come, the Guys in White were both out of the door before either Danny or Jack could object.

"Dad." Danny's voice was scared and full of uncertainty. It was something that Jack just couldn't ignore when it came from his own son – ghost or no. "They're going to catch me."

* * *

_-Day 35-  
-Sunday the 31__st__ of August, 2008-  
_

Jazz Fenton put her eye up to the peephole of the door, seeing who was knocking on the other side. She made a small gasp of shock when she found out, turning to the others and motioning her hands so her family would become silent. She quickly flicked the lock of the door, and then put a chair and a few other items of furniture up against it, her family rallying around to help her.

Another knock hit the door three times, quick and impatient. "This is the Guys in White. We know you're in there, so if you don't open up, then the door's coming off the hinges. We can detect you on our heat sensors, so don't try to hide." no one answered the two agents, which resulted in a continuous thump coming from the other side of the door. Eventually it died down, replaced by one of the agent's voices.

"It's barricaded, let's take the windows out."

The Fenton family suddenly heard the smashing of glass coming from the living room, and saw the two Guys in White agents from before jump through.

"Madeline, Jack and Jasmine Fenton, the three of you are hereby under arrest for the murder of your son and brother, Daniel Fenton and for unleashing the menace Danny Phantom on this town. Daniel Fenton, you are hereby under arrest for carrying an ectoplasmic signature and for being a menace to society. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to have an attorney present during questioning. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you."

The Guys in White quickly approached the Fentons with handcuffs at the ready. Maddie quickly turned her head to her son, her eyes with a look of terror. "Danny, _RUN!_"

However, Danny's feet were planted to the ground. He couldn't just leave his parents to the government like this, especially considering they'd done absolutely nothing wrong.

"Danny, go! Take Jazzy-Pants and _get out of here!_" Danny gritted his teeth down, seeing the Guys in White cuff both of his parents in front of him.

"Danny, _GO!_" both of his parents screamed, as they were pressed to the floor with their hands behind their backs. Finally, their only son made a move that he'd never done before. In front of everyone, he transformed into his ghost form, grabbed his sister and flew as fast as he could away.

Both the Fenton parents looked at each other and gave a small smile, knowing that at least their son and daughter were, for now, safe.

The Guys in White quickly tied the Fentons up on the floor so that they couldn't move, activating their top-secret flying scooters and took off after the two siblings.

"Jack, they'll be alright. You know what Danny's like... and... Phantom can escape anything. They're going to be absolutely fine..."

"Yeah, they are..." Jack replied, but not so much in agreement – instead more of a self-reassurement. They'd be fine... right?

--

Danny held onto Jazz, a hand clutched tightly around hers. She was silently sobbing – he could tell every time he looked at her eyes – big, glassy orbs sat in her face, the occasional drop of moisture sliding away from them as the wind whipped passed the two.

"Mum..." she whispered quietly. "Dad..." Danny couldn't bring himself to say anything back – he was having just as hard a time flying away from them as Jazz did leaving them. "Danny... we have to go back for them..."

Danny slowly came to a stop and looked into his sister's eyes, almost becoming tearful himself. "Yes, we do."

However... the Guys in White had used their scooters to catch up, and suddenly the two siblings found a phase-proof net surrounding them, tightened so it pressed into their skin.

"Gotcha."

* * *

_-Day 36-  
-Monday the 1st of September 2008-_

"Order! The court is in session!"

The babble of noise quietened down as the very thin but harsh judge eyed the people angrily for not becoming silent earlier. "Beginning the case of the Guys in White versus Madeline, Jack and Jasmine Fenton. Am I correct in stating that the defendants have been accused of the murder of Daniel Fenton, and unleashing ghosts, including most-notably Danny Phantom, upon this town?"

"Affirmative, your honor." one of the Guys in White stood up and said, nodding his head.

The judge eyed him through his glasses, reading the smug expression on his face. "Very well. May the prosecution bring across their first argument?"

The same Guy in White who had agreed stood up and walked around the table, standing up in front of the people, the judge and the jury. "Now." he said, beginning to pace around the room. "The first thing we, the prosecutors, are going to present to you today is the overwhelming evidence against the Fenton family. First and most foremost, this audio tape of both Jack and Daniel speaking to each other, taken just last Thursday."

The Guy in White pulled a recording device from his pocket and clicked it onto 'playback'. The sound was fuzzy, however, audible.

"_Well – that couldn't be, because that would put me in the same position as him. There's no way that Danny could be Phantom at the same time without him being... killed."_

"_Well, was there any incidents that could have killed him? Chemical spills, accidents... this does seem like a very dangerous house."_

"_I would never kill my own son! There's been no accidents that he's had that could have killed him. Except for th- ..."_

"_Please Mr. Fenton, do go on. What was the exception?"_

"_... I'll be right back ..."_

"_Danny!"_

"_D-Dad! You ran straight into me! I was, um, just coming in to tell you that the filtrator's fine!"_

"_Danny, I believe we need to have... a talk."_

"_What, like one of those father-son talks that are horribly disturbing and will scar my innocence for life? E-er, no thanks. I have... homework to do?"_

"_I'm serious."_

"_..."_

"_Did anything strange happen to you after that accident with the Fenton Portal?"_

"_Um, no? Why would you think that? We all know that after a couple of days bed rest I was fine."_

"_But... I mean... when you were in the portal... there was... a lot of electricity that poured through you... please... tell me you're not..."_

"_Dad! I'm perfectly alive! Do I look like a ghost to you?!"_

"_You look... like Danny... ... ... Phantom._"

This recording merely suggests that Daniel Fenton was killed in an accident with the Fenton's Ghost Portal. However, this next one confirms it. It was recorded the day after the previous one.

"_I know that I shouldn't have... but you guys looked so down. Jazz and I were talking... and we both agreed that the two of you looked like you'd never be happy again. I thought that maybe you guys would work a bug out of it or something... but you never found anything. After about a month, Sam and Tucker got kinda curious, and I gotta say... I was too. So we went down there to take a look at the portal. Then Sam said I should go in it and see if pressing the 'on' button inside the portal worked. So I put on one of those HAZMAT suits that you made me. And then... I pressed the button and that was kinda it."_

"_Oh Danny! But you can't be dead – you're right here and you look so alive in comparison to a ghost... please tell me... it just can't have happened! You can't have been impersonating yourself all this time..."_

"_Relax, mum! I'm not... dead. I'm just... half-ghost. I know it doesn't make any sense, but that's what I am. Half of me is human... and the other is ghost. I've still got the same mind, I can sorta just... change forms. I think the ectoplasm that I got shocked with must have changed my DNA or something..."_

"_That's not right though... the shock of having your DNA rearranged alone would have killed you... but that – it doesn't mean that... no... half of you can't really be dead! It's just... too much of a clash for words, sweetie..."_

"_Mum... it is. I don't know, but Tucker, Sam and I have this... theory. Because we know that my DNA getting messed up should have killed me too. We think that I did die when I was shocked... but all the ectoplasm from the portal held my human form together, but only half of it. Something might have happened where my body knew it was dying and attempted to make a ghost form to escape in, but it got trapped and made up the other half of me at the same time..."_

"_Oh Danny... I can't... I can't believe this happened to you! I'm so sorry, I should have been more vigilant! I should have never let you down there and kept you under a closer eye! I'm... so sorry..."_

"_It's okay... I mean, I feel fine now. It was like, ten months ago. It's not like I'm gone or anything. I just... have to manage two identities, that's all."_

"Objection!" the lawyer of the Fentons called out. "Did you have explicit permission to be recording the Fenton family?"

"Overruled. Jack Fenton gave explicit permission to the prosecution to record him and his family immediately before the original interview." the judge said, eying the lawyer sternly.

The lawyer stopped dead, apoligised, and sat down, continuing to listen to the prosecution's arguments. After at least an hour and a half of evidence and proof that Danny was actually dead and the cause of his death really _was_ his parent's fault, the lawyer and the defendants looked a little worse-for-wear. When the judge finally called for the defendants, the lawyer bit his lip to the point where it almost bled, and stood up.

"Now, firstly, I would like to acknowledge that there is an overwhelming amount of evidence against the Fentons for being the primary cause of the death of Daniel Fenton. However, there have been some key issues that have been buried by the prosecution – namely the fact that Daniel is not dead – he is "half dead" as he called himself in the recording. He isn't dead – he's a hybrid, in this respect. And, to prove this theory, we are going to bring him in right now."

The doors at the back of the court opened to reveal a glowing teen with white hair and luminescent green eyes, cuffed with glowing handcuffs, being forced into the room by a prison guard. Danny didn't struggle against it – he was doing this for his parents. He couldn't believe it, but he was; there was no way in the world that he would leave them to a jail cell because of things that were his fault.

Now sitting in the chair next to the judge, Danny watched as his family's lawyer approached him.

"Danny Fenton, do you swear to tell the truth, only the truth, and nothing but the truth?"

"I swear to tell the truth, only the truth, and nothing but the truth."

The lawyer gave Danny a reassuring smile. "Good. Are you ready?"

"Yeah." Danny replied with a small nod. He really didn't know how he could do it – all these people... but he had to.

"Is it correct that you were in an accident when the "Fenton Ghost Portal" was turned on?"

"Yes, I was."

"Could you please explain to the courtroom what happened."

Danny bit his lip – he never, not even once, imagined ever having to do this in front of a court room of completely straight-faced people. "Well, I-" he choked mid-sentence, not sure if he could possibly bring himself to say it. "I went down to my parent's basement, even though I was told to stay out of there unless I was with them. The portal didn't work then... and they looked really sad, so I decided to see if I could see anything really simple that they overlooked wrong with it... and I found an 'on' button on the inside. I put on one of those weird HAZMAT suits, plugged the portal into the wall so it had electricity and pressed it..."

There was a silence in which the court expected Danny to continue, even though he really looked uncomfortable in doing so. Only after the lawyer coaxed him on, telling him it could save his parents from prison, he finally continued.

"I-I came out as a ghost... But I wasn't a real ghost – I could change back to what I normally look like. I'm not dead – my heart still beats when I'm human... and I have a pulse and breathe and everything. It's just not as often, is all..."

"Now Daniel," the lawyer said, knowing that if this worked, the jury would believe without a doubt that Danny's state was only an accident, and that he wasn't even really dead in the first place. "Could you, just to help prove you really are still human in some way, change back?"

Danny would have liked to become invisible there and then, however the cuffs prevented him from using most of his powers. Finally, he stood up and found the familiar glowing rings once again separating from his waist. Shocked gasps and some very quick talking followed from all around the courtroom – some must have thought he was bluffing just to protect his parents, and others who had believed him all along gasped more in awe more than anything else.

"I'm still alive."

"_ORDER!_" the judge screamed, smacking his hammer on the table three or four times. "This is a court of law, not a circus! When the prosecution or defendants are presenting evidence, there is to be _no talking!_"

The courtroom, now shocked out of speaking to each other, fell immediately silent and now took to merely staring at the half-ghost hybrid in front of them.

"Okay, Daniel, would you mind if we get a trained medical professional to check for vital signs?"

"No." Danny replied, unnerved by everyone staring at him. But he had to keep going – he knew that with his secret out, his life would probably be fairly hard from this point forward – but he'd come so far. He had to do this for his family, there was no way that he could stop now.

A doctor from besides where the lawyer was sitting stood up and approached Danny, his eyes still fairly wide from what he'd just witnessed. As he faced Danny, he told him to put his arm out. He grabbed the thin teen's wrist and found, while barely noticeable and slower than possible for him to stay alive on, a pulse. He then used a stethoscope to check Danny's heart rate, and a thermometre to check his temperature. The courtroom remained silent in curious apprehension, waiting for the verdict.

"He has a pulse, but only twelve beats per minute. His temperature is currently twenty-two degrees Celsius, and his heart is beating... if only slowly. He's definitely alive, but... he should be near-dead and frostbitten all over with vitals like these. The only way that this could even be possible is that he really is half-ghost... otherwise he'd be in an emergency room."

Everyone other than the prosecution in the courtroom seemed convinced without a doubt that Danny was still, in some way, alive. And by his words, it was not his parents fault for his limbo half-dead status.

The debates continued for over two and a half hours longer, each time one side produced more evidence and testimonies, the courtroom seemed to swing into their favour. It seemed that the side who got the last argument in would be the ones to convince the jury.

As the final argument was given by the defendants, the jury were ordered into seclusion. The court was dismissed for half an hour while the jury figured out the verdict. When everyone had returned to the courtroom, the first juror in the line held a piece of paper in front of him.

"Have the jury decided on a verdict?" the judge asked, eying them through his glasses. The first juror holding the paper stood up.

"Yes, your honor. We find the defendants, Jasmine Fenton, Madeline Fenton and Jack Fenton, guilty of capital murder, reckless endangerment and the creation of Danny Phantom."

"WHAT?!" the entirety of the courtroom, minus the prosecution, screamed. The judge yet again smacked his hammer several times on the table in front of him.

"Order! The jury's verdict is final! Jasmine Fenton, Jack Fenton and Madeline Fenton, you are sentenced to be executed by the electric chair on the first of October. Court dismissed! Take the prisoners to their individual cells!"

There was much anger, sadness and hostility about the courtroom after the judgment. How could the jury and judge possibly think like that? The Fentons were obviously fine – _especially _Jazz, and yet, by some cruel twist of fate, they'd ended up on the execution list.

The three Fentons' eyes were wide, silent tears slipping down their faces. For them, it seemed as though time had stopped in place. Danny was dragged from the courtroom by the Guys in White, and taken somewhere that they couldn't see. Jazz finally broke down in tears, unable to deal with the knowledge of the fate that she now held. Maddie and Jack hugged their daughter tightly, before they were eventually forced apart by a group of prison guards.

* * *

_-Day 37-  
-Tuesday the 2__nd__ of September, 2008-_

"Get in."

The guard locked the door and placed a portable ecto-shield behind Danny. In the secure meeting cell, he saw his family, who he ran over to and commenced in a big family hug.

"We're gonna make it through this, don't worry." Danny said in an effort to seem reassuring, however his face told a different story. Though Maddie, Jack and Jazz wanted to believe him so desperately, that their minds believed him for every reassuring word that he had, and would say.

"I know you can do it, Danny." Jazz's face graced a very faint smile, her eyes still red from continually sobbing. "Because you're Danny Phantom, and he can do anything. Re-remember how you beat your f-future? If you can do that... then you can s-save us."

Danny didn't have the heart to tell them that the Guys in White were going to take him straight to a secure laboratory to perform a wide variety of excruciating experiments after this last meeting. He had only a few minutes longer to reassure them...

"Yeah... don't you guys worry – I have a plan. I'll come, I promise I will. And then we'll run like hell, and do whatever we can to get out of this mess."

"We've got faith in you, Danny-boy!" Jack said, his half-ghost son and giving him a very tight squeeze. "You'll do it for us!"

"Time's up, kid." the guard from before said, opening the door and the ghost shield while re-cuffing Danny. "Time for experiments."

"But that wasn't even _close _to five minutes! That's not fair!" Danny yelled angrily, being dragged away from his family.

The guard snorted rather loudly. "Kid, if there's one thing you need to learn in life, it's that life's not fair. Of course, you won't have much use for knowledge like that once we're done with you."

Danny struggled, but the guard was strong. He was weak without ghost power, and the glowing cuffs prevented him from tapping into it. He looked longingly into his families faces, starting to go to the first stages of tearing up himself. "I love you guys..." the Fentons didn't answer back, but the expressions in their eyes had said enough.

"Hope your goodbye was good enough, kid. This is the last time you'll be seeing them."

But Danny knew very well that deep down, no last goodbye would ever be good enough. Whatever the cost, he couldn't let that be his last goodbye. Only over his dead body would that ever happen.

Which seemed rather likely.

--

Danny was taken to Axion Labs, which happened to have been sold to the Guys in White by Vlad when he'd become mayor. He didn't even want to think about what was going to happen to him in there, much less what would happen to his family if he didn't escape. He struggled against the two men's grip, but being ghost-powerly-challenged wasn't helping; especially since the two Guys in White were very strong and built up, while he, despite all of the fighting he did, was still rather thin and didn't have a great deal of strength.

Eventually, his arms and legs had had it. He could no longer summon anymore strength to help him fight and struggle free. He was quite literally dragged on the ground into the large collection of laboratories, taken through a series of passageways, up several hundred stairs (where he managed to hit his head in exhaustion on every single one) and into a room with a 'traditional' experimentation table, complete with wrist and ankle braces and a variety of painful-looking tools - the glowing scalpel in particular.

Danny was thrust onto the table, his cuffs quickly removed while his wrists were braced down to the table. His ankles followed soon after.

"What are you going to do to me?!" Danny screamed, looking nervously at the hundreds of different machines in the room, large and small, mostly sharp or laser-like.

The Guys in White looked at each other with a very dark smirk on both of their faces. One turned to the half-ghost, lowering his shades with his finger. "You'll just have to find out, won't you?" he raised a long needle and injected it into Danny's skin. He cringed at the pain from the Guy in White's poor experience with giving injections, and then slowly found his vision beginning to swim around him.

Eventually, Danny fell unconscious; his mind lost to this world.

* * *

_-Day 43-  
-Sunday the 7__th__ of September, 2008-_

"We're going to have to do something about the ectoplasm stability in it's heart – we pumped too much of it into the subject."

"So, what do we do, genius? We're not supposed to kill the rest of it!"

"We have to get rid of the excess ectoplasm in the subject's blood. Even though it won't _kill _it for the substance to stay in there, it could make the subject stronger and resistant to the anesthetic, as well as able to break through the ecto-proof table."

"But we can't just 'take it out'. As soon as the stuff goes in, it mixes with the blood. There's no way we could do it without giving him too little blood to live on."

Two scientists squabbled and debated over what exactly to do next – wasting precious time. With no one to tell them to get thinking and stop arguing at that point in time, the whole thing got rather out-of-control to the point where they completely forgot that there was a half-ghost in the room, ready to have more experiments done.

Danny's eyes slowly began to flicker open, although to him, they felt as though they were glued together, and it took a great amount of effort just to open them. Not that he could see anything properly. The first thing he noticed when he awoke was the burning pain in his chest. He had no idea what it was, but not only did it burn – it also felt as though...

The two scientists stopped dead and swung around, staring at the subject – for the subject no longer possessed black hair, and it's eyes were glowing a _dangerously _luminous green.

"It woke up!" one of the scientists yelled. "Get the experimental time freezer! We have to stop it somehow!"

The other scientist, a look of pure desperation on his face, scrambled to retrieve said gadget. Danny's vision was getting better and better, and he was beginning to realise what was happening around him.

_Guys in White... something to do with... pain in my chest... but what...? _

He suddenly realised exactly what was going on – it all came to him nearly at once, but now he knew...

Danny's hands and feet glowed with bright green ecto-energy, where he channeled it from his heart. It felt like there was a large burning hole right there, eating away at him. He poured more and more of it through his limbs before finally it had built up so much that the ecto-proof table could no longer contain it and keep it locked away under Danny's skin.

The excess energy gone and the table smashed to bits, Danny flew for it, phasing straight out of the building. He had to go to his family – right now that was the only place he could even dream of going. He had escaped Axion Labs so quickly that they hadn't been able to gather themselves together enough to follow after him. And as he was flying, that was when he noticed that points all over his body were absolutely _aching. _

...what on earth had the Guys in White done to him while he was under?

--

Jazz sat in her holding cell, now separated from her parents. She didn't want to even think about what her brother was going through right then, or if she would even actually make it through this.

The one thing on her mind, however, was how in the world the jury could have just gone and _voted _like that. Didn't they have consciences? At all? The only way a jury could have possibly voted that way was by the Guys in White rigging the whole thing, and put their members in place of jurors. That would mean – that it all made perfect sense... and the judge would have had to have been either replaced by a Guy in White too – either that, or completely off their rockers. There was no other better explanation - the whole thing had to have been rigged. Even with the death penalty looming, it was never just a mere month after the court proceeding...

She sighed and slouched where she was sitting – knowledge like this right now wasn't going to do her any good. It probably wouldn't have helped even before this predicament had happened – no one would have believed her theory. She would just be some crazy lunatic in the eyes of others...

She felt so helpless – she couldn't do anything to stop any of the bad things happening to her entire immediate family. She and her parents were going to be executed, and her brother likely to be tortured to death. That was why she got such a fright when Danny suddenly materialised in front of her.

"Danny!"

"Shush!" Danny replied in a hushed voice, looking around the cell quickly but hesitantly. "I'm getting you out of here. Mum and Dad's cells are sealed with ecto-shields, but this one obviously hasn't been done yet."

"Oh god... but Danny, look at yourself! You've got long cuts and gashes all over..."

"I know I do, but that doesn't matter right now. We have to get going, now!"

Jazz nodded slowly, but then looked her brother squarely in his green, glowing eyes. "What about Mum and Dad...?"

Danny looked down at his feet in a guilty fashion. He didn't say anything else – he just picked Jazz up, phased himself and his sister through the prison walls, and flew.

Truth be told, he didn't know how he could save his parents. Or even if they could be saved at all.

* * *

_-Day 64-  
-Monday the 29__th__ of September, 2008-_

The first storms of the colder months were finally beginning to pass through, as the autumn leaves were blown mercilessly from their places on the tree's branches. The wind howled outside as the rain hammered down on the rooves of Amity Park.

Danny lay on a dusty old bed in a dusty old house in a broken-down part of town. It was the only place that he and Jazz could stay – it was the only abandoned house they could find in an area, and they couldn't just go back to their old home. They'd have been found within a moments' notice, and taken straight back to the separate places that they'd been imprisoned in.

His mind was blank. It wasn't wailing, it wasn't smiling – it was just blank, with barely a thought left in there. Maybe it was a self-defense mechanism to stress overloads? He somehow doubted that.

On the contrary, Jazz had been sobbing so much for so long, that these days her tears fell with no moisture in them. Her eyes never glistened, but now always looked bloodshot and completely dried out_ - _empty of the spirit she once possessed.

Danny hadn't eaten in at least a few days – not needing or wanting to. As a result, he'd started to become a little thinner than the stick figure he already was. When he could actually think without his thoughts escaping him, all he could think about was the fate of his parents and how neither he or Jazz could come up with a plan that even had the slightest chance of working. Jazz had tried to get her brother to eat, but he just wouldn't. Despite being a ghost, the human half of him did demand food every so often.

He was still covered in long gashes and scars from the Guys in White's experiments, which refused to stop hurting or heal. Whatever had been used to cut those marks was meant to make them permanent.

Over the past week, however, now that Jazz had quite literally almost cried herself to pieces, she had found that the house itself _actually _possessed an Internet connection and a (though very old) computer. Ever since then, she'd been continually combing news websites for any signs of changes to the sentencing of their parents. But she couldn't find anything – the case was kept in secrecy. That was until today – the online website of the Amity Park Angle had some journalists on the story, and had had it published on the Internet.

"_**THE FENTON MENACES?**"_

_**  
**_Jazz stared at the screen for a minute, and just blinked. Immediately, she scrolled down to the part about their sentencing to see if by some miracle it had been changed – she already knew what had happened earlier; after all, she witnessed it.

"_The sentencing for the Fenton family has not been changed and an appeal has been rejected by the supreme court. In the event of finding the two Fenton children, Daniel and Jasmine, they will both be executed by the electric chair. The judge and jury's methods were seriously questioned at court proceeding, as it seemed that most of the audience were in the Fenton's favour, and many, if not all other witnesses at the hearing apart from the prosecution, judge and jury think that the sentencing was somehow biased beforehand – many can't relate a lethal accident with capital murder. Mayor Vlad Masters himself has desperately tried to appeal to the case, but with no avail.  
_

_On Wednesday at 9:45am, the Fentons will be finally moved from their ecto-shielded cells to the execution chamber, and will finally be executed at 9:50am with the electric chair."_

Jazz head rose up instantly. "Danny, that's it! Look – look at this!"

Danny shot up from the bed and rushed over to the computer, looking at what Jazz had pointed out.

"Government releases photos of the perfected but still untested experimental time freezer?"

"No," Jazz said, pointing over at the right article. "This one."

However, he didn't seem to see the light like his sister did, and by the time he had finished reading he immediately slipped straight back into a depressed state, with a bit of fire in it, too.

"And what does this tell us? That they're going to be killed in two days?! Gee, _thanks. _I really needed to be reminded of it, I don't think..."

"No, it's not that, Danny! Don't you see? They have five minutes where they aren't surrounded by an ecto-shield. Do you know what you can do?"

A ghost of a grin graced Danny's lips. "I have five minutes where I can save them."

* * *

_-Day 65-  
-Tuesday the 30th of September, 2008-  
_

The storm from the previous day had calmed, and now the autumn leaves lay settled on the ground, covering the city with a sea of yellow, red and orange. The setting sun outside cast a luminescent orange glow across the town, the shadows cast by it steadily creeping up the street.

Danny had perched himself up by the window, watching as the sun go down. They had a plan – sure, they had a plan... but would this be the last time his parents ever saw a sunset? Heck, they probably didn't have a window to see the sunset in high-security cells... Their last one would have been... exactly one month and one day ago.

Why did it have to be like this? What was going through the judge and jury's minds when they sentenced his parents? They would have had to have been Guys in White in disguise – or... or possessed...

Possessed...

"Danny, you have to eat now... you've gotta keep your strength up for tomorrow. I went down to the bakery in my hoodie again and they almost saw my face – so don't make this not worth it."

Danny took the bag of rolls when Jazz gave them to him, and in the first time in at least five days, took out a roll and ate it; he really didn't notice how hungry he was until he began to eat.

Jazz had been enthusiastic all day long, but Danny was sure that it was just an act so as not to get his mood down. If his mood was down, then he'd have even less chance of saving his parents from a horrible fate.

That night, both Jazz and Danny went to bed early – they needed a good amount of sleep.

But it wasn't like they actually got it.

* * *

_-Day66-  
-Wednesday the 1st of October, 2008-_

That morning – that horrible morning – Danny got up very early. He got up so early that it was still dark outside and he could watch the sun come up. Jazz was up at about the same time – neither would admit it to each other, but they were both worried sick. What if they got caught? What if they came just a tad too late? What if they came too early and set the ecto-alarms off, which would surely be there? Sure, they had developed a plan the night before and had taken to perfecting it throughout the morning, but that didn't mean it was foolproof.

Because if just one thing went wrong, then it was probably all over. It was do-or-die, and that was literal to the full extent of the phrase.

Throughout the entire morning, Danny checked his watch constantly – every five minutes, as constantly. His mind knew it was so crucial that the timing was right, that even when the sun still hadn't risen, he was checking his watch as it ticked away, painfully slowly.

And then when the time came for him to leave, he just wanted to turn back and say "No".

Forcing himself to go on, Jazz wished him all the luck there was in the world. She wasn't coming – she would be, admittedly, extra baggage. But before he left, Danny found himself pulled into a tight, embracing hug; almost like the bone-crushing one that his father could give.

"God speed, Danny."

"Yeah..." Danny replied back, looking up at his sister. "You too."

With a small smile on both of their faces, the siblings split up – fully aware that it might be the last time they see each other.

--

Danny propped himself up against the prison wall perimetre, invisible to the eye. It was now 9:40am – he didn't have much time. He'd have to find the execution chamber, _fast. _Adding intangibility to his invisibility, he penetrated the walls of the prison and began to search frantically for the place he dreaded and longed to go. At least it seemed that there weren't any ecto-alarms around.

Every time a minute ticked by, he became increasingly flustered. And finally, when his watch hit 9:45am, he nearly screamed – but still remembered to keep his mouth shut.

9:46...

9:47...

9:48...

9:49...

_Where are they!? _Danny mentally screamed, ready to pull his hair out from shear frustration and worry. He couldn't get lost, not today. Any day but today...

And that was finally found the right wall to go through. And behind that wall were his parents, in the most horrific mental state he had ever seen them. His mum was really _bawling _in tears, and shaking in apprehension as his dad was strapped into the other electric chair beside her. He was visibly trying to reach over to hug her, but the straps around his wrists and ankles prevented him from doing so. Danny decided that it was really only now that they fully realised the severity of what was happening – and he didn't blame them.

The last fifteen seconds of time. These were the moments where everything happened all at once.

Danny had become frozen to the spot, releasing his invisibility and intangibility. He couldn't move – something in his brain wasn't allowing him to move. Everything happened in slow motion, mocking him.

Vlad appeared out of nowhere, but was immediately blasted with a surprisingly strong ecto-ray from the Guys in White, and Danny was too. They were both thrown against the side wall, where they slammed into it and fell down to the ground. Danny felt his own white rings wash over him, and saw Vlad's black ones do the same. He still couldn't move, he wanted so desperately to move, but he just couldn't. All he could do was watch, as Vlad got straight up from his crumpled heap and dashed over to Maddie, putting his arms around her as he tried to become intangible and pull her from the chair. But he couldn't, no matter how much he tried.

And suddenly, within the last five seconds of time, the executioner had his hand on the lever right next to the witnesses. Danny screamed, his voice piercing the room. He had never screamed like this, not even in the portal accident. It was a scream of fear, rage, of _longing_... It got into your eardrums, and it stayed there, forever haunting you. Whomever had heard Danny's scream that day – they never forgot it.

And just like that, he could move – something in his brain had finally clicked. He extended one arm out, and used the other for a little extra push off the ground to start running. But, neither he or Vlad were fast enough.

The time had come. The time where time stopped _dead. _The only thought in Danny's mind as he was frozen in his position, trying so desperately to reach out to his parents, was whether or not he'd ever get to see them again after that moment in time.

And he'd never stop thinking that.

For time had literally stopped around him.

* * *

_-One Year Later-  
-Thursday the 1st of October, 2009-_

Jazz no longer bore a hoodie over her head to conceal her face. She had been acquitted of all charges, and rightfully so. Over the past year, she came out of hiding as it was publicly acknowledged that she wasn't guilty, and the judge as well as jury who had originally sentenced the Fentons were all Guys in White in disguise, just as she thought they were. They had rigged the entire court proceeding.

She had known it all year – the Guys in White were merciless beings... cruel throughout every inch of their soul. It was never about collecting the data. It was always about the cruelty; the satisfaction they'd get when they inflicted harm. Only after this whole predicament, did the Guys in White get disbanded by the government, as a danger to US citizens.

Jazz walked quietly into the prison, not saying a word until she got to the front desk.

"My name's Jasmine Fenton, child of Madeline and Jack Fenton, sibling of Danny Fenton."

The female receptionist, who had very short blond hair, nodded her head solemnly and led her through a series of passageways, before finally opening the door to the execution chamber.

"So this was your final fate..." Jazz whispered, looking at the scene in front of her. Vlad, unable to have become intangible, was embracing what could have been his wife very tightly, and she looked as though she would have returned it back, had she not had her arms strapped to the chair. It seemed she was too traumatised to realise that she was being embraced by the man she hated above all others.

Jack was looking to his left, looking desperately at his son...

And then there was Danny, who was reaching out for his parents so desperately, halted in position... Jazz wondered what thoughts would have been going through his mind that day – the day when his time stopped.

"The poor dears are stuck like that until the end of days..." an older lady, who appeared to be a cleaner, said as she passed through the chamber. "It must be terrible."

"How exactly... did they get like this?" Jazz asked the woman, who's face suddenly turned grave. She put her mop back into the bucket and leaned against the wall.

"The Fentons were so close to being rescued from those chairs. Those two half-ghosts had almost done it. The Guys in White were panicking – they couldn't allow anyone to escape. So they used their last resort – have you heard of the Experimental Time Freezer?"

"Yes, it was on a lot of news websites this time last year, but then it disappeared. You're not saying that -"

"I am. That's what they did – they froze those people in time, forever. It's the ultimate punishment – they can't move, think a different thought or even die in this state. Granted, the Guys in White didn't anticipate that the device would make a miniature explosion in their hands right after they used it, so they couldn't unfreeze time. People have tried to recreate the device, but nothing has worked here."

"How many times have they tried?" Jazz asked, looking longingly at her family.

The woman sighed, pulling the mop out of the bucket and continuing to wash the floors as she talked. "They've tried everything. How it was made was top-secret, because they didn't want anyone recreating such a dangerous device – they destroyed the blueprints, too. At one stage, they were so desperate that they used the Ghost Portal in the Fenton's house to go to the Ghost Zone and find the answer. They thought they had one when they found "the Ghost of Time."

"But?"

"The Ghost of Time couldn't do anything, because the technology to freeze time that the Guys in White had used was of human origin. He said something about how his power to control time could only work in conjunction with natural happenings, not of human origin like this."

"Oh..."

The cleaner rubbed Jazz on the back, and then moved on to the next room. Jazz sighed deeply, looking at her frozen family, and Vlad, as well. She could have sworn that Danny winked at her, but it was really just a trick of the light.

* * *

**-Author's Note-  
**Whoa, that was _long! _It took up a lot of time to write, but I'm glad I did it. So, now that you've read it, what do you think? Love it? Hate it? Want to stab me with a screwdriver for it? Constructive criticism is always welcome and loved. Nitpicking, spelling or grammar errors, anything. Stuff you think needs to be improved - whatever. I'll be happy to know. As long as it's not a flame, I'm fine with it, so as much criticism as you like.

Cookies to reviewers! Extra big cookies with chocolate chips to those with criticism! Usual note that I am Australian and that some things that look misspelled are merely Australian English.

Peace,  
MoonlightUmbreon


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